Outlook Social Connector - the social layer for MS Outlook

Recently, we often see the software vendors integrating their enterprise software with public social networks. And Microsoft also wants to participate in this trend. Last year they released the Social Networking Accelerator for MS Dynamics CRM, which allows you to monitor the social networks for mentioning specific themes. And this year, along with Office 2010, they will release the social plugin Outlook Social Connector, which lets you see the social profile of the person who sent you email. Initial Microsoft's partner in this project is the business social network LinkedIn. If a person who has a LinkedIn public profile sent you email, you will be provided with the current information from his profile, including his connections and recent activities.



In addition to LinkedIn, Outlook Social Connector can pull data (and messages) from profiles in Sharepoint, Windows Live, Facebook, Twitter. And using the API, developers can link Outlook to any social network or corporate portal. Moreover, the plugin will notify you if the contact information is updated in the external source and will offer you to sync the contact data to Outlook.

And of course, the plugin displays the history of correspondence with this person (from Outlook), attached files, as well as the tasks and events linked to him.

Outlook Social Connector is very similar to the popular plug-in Xobni, that Bill Gates called the future of social networks. But Xobni recently came under the influence of the Microsoft's rival - Cisco, therefore the company decided to develop its own solution.

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